There will be 5 years in a month that I am your pastor. When my superiors called me to this pastoral ministry, I did not know what to expect. It was a shock because I was preparing to leave for East Africa. I had made the idea that the snow and cold were a thing of the past for me. Then I arrived in Iqaluit Dec. 1, 2008. It was-30C. I was greeted by a warm and caring community. I adapted very easily. And I felt that the community has adapted to my presence.

During the first year, we have established that the most important pastoral priority of the parish was to initiate the process of evangelization. Seeing the fact that the vast majority of the baptized are no longer attending the celebrating community, we decided together to implement strategies that would enable this great task: To make known Jesus Christ, to make him loved and be accepted as Savior.

After five years we can see that the challenge is far from its end. On the contrary, it is always to be restarted and it will continue until the end because it is the purpose of the Church from the very beginning. However, we must also recognize the steps that have been taken. The word "evangelization" is no longer an abstract word to anyone. Our first strategy was to talk a lot and prepare the ground so that people can be interested and involved. Training in this direction has been provided and more to follow. Another important strategy is to not divide our forces by multiplying groups or movements. It is still too early to assess this aspect. We know that to achieve the objective must be that everyone is pulling in the same direction. If the Apostles had decided to form their all small organizations, there would be no church today.

For the next three years , it seems important to me to look with clarity what was done to refocus our efforts on our goal and revise strategies to achieve it. That is why I invite all of us, to examine our conscience to see if it is indeed our commitment to engage in this process. I want to remind you that it is the responsibility of all members of a Christian community to proclaim the Gospel and not just the priest. A community where the parishioners do not preach the gospel actively and strategically is a community dedicated to die. I 'm sure that we want a future for our community. With the power of the Spirit we will build the future as long as we decide and we take all the strategic means to achieve it. There will be resistance, hesitation and mistakes. Do not be afraid. If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all human being then our mission is possible and we can find a real joy to do it.